The present invention relates in general to packaging of plural component fragile articles, and more particularly to transparent plastic packaging of plural component fragile cookware articles of glass or ceramic material or the like such as a bowl and cover therefor.
Heretofore, packages have been proposed for plural component cookware assemblies, such as a main container and a lid therefor, formed of glass or ceramic material, together with a snap-on cover which maintains the compartments or interior spaces of the assembly separated, as in Wheaton U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,337,077 and 3,360,153. A two compartment package has also been proposed in the Kerr U.S. Pat. No. 3,454,179 having a lower section and an upper section separated by a divider.
However, such packaging systems have not been designed as top and bottom plastic packaging sections for a container and cover of glass or ceramic or similar material which are preformed by molding to conform to the configuration of the container and cover components and provide a cushioning layer interposed between and separating the container and cover to provide effective protection against breakage and at the same time present an attractive package.
An object of the present invention, therefor, is the provision of a novel three piece transparent plastic assembly for a bowl and lid or cover therefor, both formed of glass, ceramic or similar fragile material, wherein and upper and lower package components respectively cover and form a shaped package section covering respectively the bowl-like main container and lid components, providing recesses for accommodating the confronting faces or confronting portion of the bowl-like container and lid component to be enclosed thereby, and having a plastic transparent separator sheet member having cushioning formations protruding from a generally planiform intermediate sheet to separate the lid and bowl-like container component from each other and protect them against damaging impact with each other.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of a novel package as defined in the preceding paragraph, wherein the top and bottom transparent plastic packaging sections are preformed by molding to provide recesses for accommodating and conforming substantially to the confronting faces or portions of the bowl like container and cover components enclosed thereby.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of a novel packaging system as described in the two immediately preceding paragraphs, wherein the separator sheet is provided with cushioning bar formations distorted from the major plane of the sheet-like intermediate plastic package component forming resiliently deformable cushioning protrusion maintaining a separation between the bowl like container and lid components which is greater than the thickness of the sheet from which the intermediate plastic component is formed.
Other objects, advantages and capabilities of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention.